Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-01-13


exercise taken at pleasure. The amount
of exercise and feed taken by swine in
mild weather on a farm with good range
is far greater than they will get from
this time on till grass and clover come
again. This calls for care on the part of
the feeder to adjust his ratiens to the
new conditions surrounding his herd. AS
the amount of exercise taken is lessened
the feed should be-not the consSipating,
heating ration of corn alone, as is too Of
ten the case.
Corn is the universal feed, is the most
convenient and perhaps most liked by
our stock. But that it is too concentrate
ed and too heating for constant and long
feeding is too we'll known to require
proof But as clover or grass injured by
frost is washy, and as the ground will
soon be frozen Hp or showed under, what
else can we feed? asks the farmer. Well,
if you have not provided pumpkins, re-
fuse potatoes, apples, roots and the like,
as your safeguards in changing from
green to dry, you will do better to sell
enough corn to buy bran, oil cake meal
and oats, SO as to be able to give at least
as much of these as you do corn. Corn
and oats ground half and half and mixed
with equal bulk of bran makes a safe
feed, which will prevent heating and con-
stipation, and induce harmonious growth
of bone and muscle.
IF you have clover hay and have only
corn for your hogs, by all means have
some corn ground and then run some
clover hay through the cutting box and
wet it with hot water and allow 1t to stand
from morning until evening. Mix with
this half the amount Of meal you would
usually feed your herd, and see if the
clover and feed will not go further and
keep shoats and sows in better condi-
tion than when fed double the amount
of meal or It's equivalent in dry corn.
Of course, some will say that the clever
is not as nutritious as corn. Well, that
may be, under some conditions. But as
you are now situated your hogs are short
of exercise and succulent feed, which
correct the tendency to sluggishness of
the dig estive organs. The chaffed clovsr
distends the stomach and makes the
contents porous and easily and prompt
ly acted on by the gastric juice, SO that
the clover and corn meal are more
promptly digested and assimilated than
the corn or corn meal alone can posi-
bly, be.
An examination of the excrement will
show that about 40 per cent of the starch
and albumen in the corn or meal fed
alone passes undigested, but when the
meal if mixed with the damp of steamed
clover the per cent. of undigested food
is reduced to less than 10 per cent. So
you see it is economy to feed some bulgy
and fibrous substance with rich and con-
centarted feed. For this reason cob
meal may be better than pure corn meal
and more economical. Bran mixed with
corn meal and oil cake meal is beneficial
and economical. because it facilitates di-
gestion and gives the ration a larger per
cent of phosphates and a lower per cent.
of albuminoius. If you are wintering a
lot of brood sows and fall pigs the best
success can not come from corn diet.
We must have less concentrated and
more bulky and more laxative diet. OF
course pumpkins, turnips, mangels, ap-
pies and the like will be grand supple
ment to a moderate corn ration. But
these vegetables and clover both lack the
starch and gluten to afford the animals
the requisite amount of heat.
1t is bad economy to try to winter pigs
or sOws only on such a washy diet as
pumpkins, turnips, mangOlds, and the
like. It is also bad economy to try to
winter on corn alone. It is best kind of
economy to combine the two kinds of
feed. A larger per cent. of the ration
from mixed feed will be digested. The
question is not how much an animal eats,
so much as how much of the feed does it
digest and assimilate? It is true, think
that the wholesome ness, as well as econo-
my of agiVen feed, may be measured by
the per cent. of it that is digested and as
simulated.
The question of feeding is the great
problem in making cheap and healthy
stock. As an aid to comfort and health
and economy, we must provide drink
water Or slop = that is not too cold. A
cold draught of water taken into the
stomach of an animal stops digestion
until the contents of the stomach are
raised to the normal temperature of the
body. To raise temperature means more
heat; more heat means more feed rich in
heat formers. Evidently it is cheaper
and more healthful to give the animals
drink not so cold as to stop digestion and
tax the heat-producing supply in the sys-
tenn. Stove wood and coal are cheaper
fuel than corn and mill feed. Rather
than give ice-cold water or slop it will
pay to warm it up with an addition of
nOG wafer, SO Gn0 WnOle Is G6 plQ. A1Ger
draught of such drink the pigs will not
shiver and hurry off to bury themselves
in the bedding.
They will ramble around if the wind is
not too severe. [ find economy and COM
fort in having the slop barrel encased in
big box, pac ked around with straw or
chaff SO as to prevent freezing. Every
other day the slop is made warm and
covered up close. It never is very cold,
and will ferment slightly, which bursts
the starch cells and makes the feed
more palatable and digestible. With
care as to tn ese points, we find our fall
pigs thrive all winter and come out in the
spring with smooth coats, and free from
cough and NANCY looks that are COM
mon, yes, universal, among pigs wintered
on dry corn and ice-water. Dry, we'll
ventilated, clean quarters and feed, as
above indicated, will be found great econ
omizers of feed and most valuable pre-
ventives of disease.
FLOWERS AND FRUIT.